Bonjour à l’euro!
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Bonjour à l’euro! An agenda-setting study of attitudes
towards the new currency in France
Abstract
Euro, the single currency in twelve countries of the European Union, started
circulating as notes and coins among some 302 millions people on January 1
st
, 2002.
1
The
introduction of the new currency has diverse implications for the people in each of the 12
countries, both at national and Eurozone levels. Therefore, this change provides an
exciting opportunity to test the agenda-setting hypothesis. Data for the study come from
the major newspaper in France, the country that initiated the switch to euro, and public
opinion polls conducted by Gallup Europe. A total of 298 paragraphs from 72 articles are
analyzed to examine second-level agenda-setting effects on substantive and affective
attributes of the euro. Findings suggest that affective attributes relating to national
implications of the euro are subject to agenda-setting effects, while the ones relating to
the entire Eurozone are not. Also, the French media agenda appears to be correlated with
the Eurozone public agenda.
Convention